Sticks and Stones
by muggleborn.dragon.ryder
Summary: A collection of drabbles and one-shots focusing on Hiccup and Toothless' friendship during, after and before the first and second movies. Astrid and Stoick will play small parts, and this will be rated T to be safe.
1. War Cry

Chapter 1 - War Cry

Summary: Hiccup really needs to work on his war cry.

**A/N: Well, here I am with my newest story :D I should probably be working on Overachiever, but I AM DOING RESEARCH OKAY D: anyway, this is mostly just a story to pacify all the plot bunnies, and explore the depths of Hiccup and Toothless' friendship. I will be hopping around quite a bit in the timeline, as I'd like to do things concerning the first movie, the second movie, the television series and even the book series. This is going to be a mostly movie-verse fic, but you will find several book references in here. I'm so looking forward to the twelfth book! :D Anyway, this, as you might have guessed, is set in that time frame when Hiccup began befriending Toothless, like really befriending him. So it's set a bit after the Forbidden Friendship sequence.**

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><p>The Viking war cry was supposed to be terrifying. The Viking war cry was supposed to be chilling. The Viking war cry was supposed to send the enemy running for their mommies.<p>

Unfortunately, nobody had told Hiccup that yet.

Toothless really wasn't sure what to make of it. It's one thing if a heavily armed, muscled, scowling, full-grown, terrifying Viking man or woman launches him or herself at you while letting out that yell. It's quite another when a small, skinny boy of fourteen, who's about as non-threatening as a Viking can get runs into the cove in which you've been meeting him in secret in, and playfully tackles you while giving a soft, almost cute sound. Actually, let's be honest here: the noise Hiccup made was nothing short of adorable, and Toothless was pretty sure that Vikings didn't do adorable noises.

He twisted around in confusion, staring at the odd human on his back, cocking his head inquisitively. _What was that? _

Hiccup instantly understood, as he always did. "That, bud, is the Viking war cry." He tapped his chest with his fist proudly. "Designed to chill the blood and quicken the heartbeat."

Toothless snorted in disbelief, crumbling the rest of Hiccup's already meager confidence in his Viking-ly ways.

"Well, you know what, I'd like to see you do better!" The boy snapped.

_This is almost too easy, _Toothless replied before opening his mouth and letting out a truly heart-stopping, ear-splitting cacophony of roars, one right after another, so they all bounced off each other and echoed over the rocky canyon walls, surely reaching another island or two.

Hiccup's ears throbbed, and he rubbed at them ruefully. "Okay, yeah," he grumbled. "You win."


	2. Feelings

Chapter 2 - Feelings

Summary: Toothless is very good at reading Hiccup's emotions. But he's not exactly happy about them.

**A/N: Hi, guys :D well, this is the next chapter. Thank you for all the reviews! Just so you know, this is set right after Romantic Flight. **

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><p>Dragons weren't very good at reading human emotions, and they were especially bad at understanding them.<p>

But even dragons weren't immune to those little observations made in friendship, and Toothless was certainly no exception. He was intensely acute to Hiccup's desires, needs, and feelings at any given time. He could smell the hormones Hiccup gave off, as well, which made it even easier for him to tell what the boy was feeling.

He could smell it when Hiccup was afraid, or upset, or…ugh. He could smell it when Hiccup was _attracted_.

And to make matters worse, he was attracted to the very girl who had been threatening him just hours before! Toothless was, understandably, a little concerned about Hiccup's choice. He couldn't even begin to fathom why Hiccup would choose the blonde female. Was it because she was pretty? Her skin looked smooth. Didn't Viking boys tend to fall for the girls who could wield a weapon? Maybe her hair was shiny, or she smelled nice.

Whatever the reason, Toothless couldn't help feeling that his human was definitely out of this female's league. She had threatened him with an axe, and yet he still felt attracted to her? Toothless was in disbelief. He glanced over hopefully, wishing that the blonde female had left but knowing that she hadn't – even if he couldn't read her emotions, he could still smell her.

The female grabbed Hiccup by his collar, and Hiccup flinched like he was ready to get punched. Toothless growled, bowing low to the ground, ready for a fight. If she hurt his human…

And then, just as quickly, Toothless was covering his eyes with his tail, pressing his ears flat against his head to hopefully block out the disgusting sounds of lips on skin. Spare him those supposedly romantic kisses. His human had better not fall to something as weak and silly as love.

When the sounds finally ceased, and Toothless deemed it safe to look again, he carefully peeked out at them to see the human female darting away into the darkness, and Hiccup…

Toothless nearly groaned aloud.

Hiccup was standing there, exactly where the female had left him, and his cheeks were bright red. A dorky smile was tugging at his lips and Toothless rolled his eyes, whapping the boy on the back of the head with his tail. But he followed his human's gaze to the female. He would have to get to know her, he decided. And find out her exact intentions for his Hiccup.


	3. In Each Other

Chapter 3 - In Each Other

Summary: Toothless reflects on his tail and Hiccup's leg.

**A/N: Well, this is called 'In Each Other' because technically, even though they lost part of themselves, they found part of themselves in each other. Huh? Well, anyway, even if you don't approve, I'm sorry for being away so long. I intended to update again, but Unbreakable happened xD and I wanted to write on it again. And then Untold. Sorry. **

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><p>It always broke Toothless' heart.<p>

He hated hearing it, and did anything he could to make it better, not because he didn't understand or because it scared him, but because he did understand, understand all too well. It would start small, and it happened mostly in that first winter that they were friends, right after the battle with the Dragon Queen.

Hiccup would just be lying in bed, trying to find reasons to delay getting up because it was a cold morning, or trying to fall asleep even though they both wanted to go out for a night flight because they were both bored and couldn't sleep. Sometimes it would happen at the end of a long, hard day, when it was just the boy and the dragon, curled up against each other, not flying or playing around, but simply being with each other. It didn't matter to Toothless when it happened – it just mattered that when it happened, he found a way to soothe it, even if he couldn't stop it completely.

It would start small. Hiccup would give a tiny little moan of pain, and he would sit upright in bed, or suddenly push off Toothless, one hand going instantly to the tender stump that his leg had once been. And something inside of Toothless would twist, violently and painfully, not because he was scared for his human, but because he understood. Phantom pain was something the Night Fury could understand, after all. His own missing tail fin was proof of that.

And even though the fact that they had both lost a part of themselves had brought them closer than ever, there were still those nights when Hiccup would give that little moan, or where a spasm of pain would go through the dragon's broken tail. On those nights, Hiccup slipped off the bed and curled up on the floor with Toothless, because even if they couldn't medicate the physical pain, they could at least comfort each other inside. Because even though Hiccup no longer had his leg, even though Toothless no longer had his tail, even though they had lost a part of themselves that they would never get back…

They found a part of themselves, too.


End file.
